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“Epiphany” means an appearance or manifestation. The celebration of Epiphany commemorates the visitation of the Magi to the infant Jesus: the manifestation of God incarnate to the Magi, and also to us.
There is an old tradition of blessing the threshold of the home with chalk for the new year on Twelfth Night or Epiphany. You can do this with your family. The letters “C M B” included in the markings refer to the names traditionally given to the Wise Men, but they can also stand for “Christus mansionem benedicat,” which in Latin means “Christ, bless this house.”
Gather together at the threshold of your home, be it the main door of a house or an apartment door, with a piece of chalk and the words of this blessing.
Leader: God became flesh in Jesus Christ, making ordinary, earthly things holy. God uses the ordinary in not-so-ordinary ways. This chalk, made from dust of the earth, reminds us of our own dustiness, and the hope that Christ brings to us earthly beings. Bless this chalk to mark our home with a blessing for the new year, that all who come and go from this place find peace and shelter here and are filled with wholeness and hope.
Leader: Peace be to this house
All: And all who live here.
With your chalk, make these marks (in parentheses) as you say the words:
The Maji from the east, known in legend as Caspar (C), Melchior (M), and Balthasar (B),
C M B
two-thousand (20) and twenty three (23) years ago, followed the star and entered the home where they saw the child Jesus with Mary, his mother, and they knelt down and worshiped him. Then, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
20 C M B 23
May Christ (+) bless (+) our home (+).
20 C+ M+ B+ 23
All: Christ, visit our home with your presence, that all who visit or reside here may be blessed by your love made manifest. Amen.
Reflection and liturgy by Stephanie Heifner.
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